FIFA 16: "if it's authentic but not fun, we wouldn't add it"

Sunday, July 5, 2015 7:55:29 PM America/Los_Angeles

Producer Nick Channon took the time to talk us through the changes coming in FIFA 16, and with revisions coming across the entire pitch, and with the introduction of women's football, he had plenty to tell us.

As is the case every year with FIFA, there's a script to follow when explaining the new features, and in the interview you can hear more about passing with purpose, making the midfield matter, finding the confidence in defending, and so on and so forth.

This year the watchword is definitely "balance", and the studio are working hard to make sure that this is the most polished FIFA to date. On that note, Channon offered his thoughts on how the developers are balancing fun and authenticity.

"For us it has to be a fun experience. I think that if something's massively authentic but not fun, we wouldn't add it," the senior producer explained to us. "So we're always focussing, at the end of the day we make entertainment, we want people to enjoy what we do, so we'll focus more on the side of fun, but again I think we've always driven to be the most authentic experience that we can. But we never put something in just for the sake of it being authentic."

Another balancing act comes in the form of listening to fan feedback, and deciding what criticism to action and address in each instalment, and knowing when to trust their own instincts.

"We're always listening and reacting to what people are saying, and this year the confidence in defending, the midfield mattering, those are the real common themes of what people wanted. We've shaped our feature set around that and obviously there's things we wanted to do to improve around those areas as well, but you know, definitely listening to what our fans are saying and reacting to it.

FIFA 16 is heading to PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC in September. For more on the next entry in the series, you can read our hands-on impressions of the game right here.